Inslee goes hard negative 13 months to election

The gubernatorial campaign of Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee has taken a hot tone and sharp negative turn in the past week, following polls showing Inslee trailing GOP Attorney General Rob McKenna.

The 2012 election is still 13 months away, but you’d never know it from the stream of attacks coming from Inslee, his campaign and the state Democratic Party.

It’s standard-issue political boilerplate using familiar tactics — the petition urging the other guys to reform their nefarious ways, the call for an opponent to “come clean,” and urgent warnings prompting calls for money.

The latest on Monday, a petition come-on from Jaxon Ravens of the state Democratic Party: “Rob McKenna has drawn our state into a politically motivated health care lawsuit. Will you sign our petition urging McKenna to drop the lawsuit?”

An hour earlier, reporters received an e-mail press release from the Democrats, claiming:

“Once again, Rob McKenna is not who he says he is. He claims to be a forthright politician but then uses an excuse that he himself has contradicted to wiggle out of coming clean on (Initiative) 1125.”

Inslee had appeared before the TV cameras outside McKenna’s offices earlier in the day on Friday to deliver a similar appeal.

The night before, at a fundraiser, Inslee urged supporters to “not let Karl Rove govern the state of Washington.” (The Bush guru-turned-Fox News pundit is due to keynote state Republicans’ fall dinner.)

The chief Republican response, from GOP State Chair Kirby Wilbur, has taken the form of cool understatement. Reflecting on Inslee’s charge that McKenna has joined a “right-wing lawsuit,” Wilbur responded: “I didn’t know lawsuits had wings.”

“When will he, as a candidate for governor, start talking about state issues? Like the budget, the special session (of the Legislature), dealing with the state’s unemployment rate, etc., etc.” asked Wilbur.